Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to removable storage devices and more particularly, to removable storage devices with volatile memory.
Description of the Prior Art
There are various well-known removable data-storage devices which are used in the storage, data back-up and transfer of computer files. Legacy devices such as floppy disks and optical disc drives have been used for decades, but have well-established limitations, such as larger physical size, lower storage capacity, and slower transfer speeds. In present times, Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) drives (“or thumb drives”) are generally considered to be desirable alternatives to such legacy devices as they are physically smaller, operationally faster, have thousands of times more storage capacity, and are more durable and reliable.
Conventional USB drives, particularly those employing flash memory, have been shown to have vulnerabilities which make them potentially more risky to use relative to legacy devices such as optical disc drives. For example, conventional USB drives could potentially include embedded Trojan firmware that could operate without a user's knowledge on host systems. In addition, conventional USB drives may increase the potential of spreading viruses from one system to another and/or increase the potential of spillage of sensitive or classified information.
As a result of such vulnerabilities, many organizations have banned the use of USB drives for the purposes of file transfer on their computer systems and required the use of older technologies such as compact discs (“CD”) and digital versatile discs (“DVD”) for file transfers. Such requirements have been made despite the well-known benefits of USB drives over such optical disc drives like CDs and DVDs because the security vulnerabilities in conventional USB drives render USB drives unusable for many security sensitive applications. Accordingly, a need remains for a USB drive style data transfer device which can provide the inherent size, capacity, speed and durability benefits of conventional USB flash drives while eliminating the vulnerabilities of such flash drives.
Applicants' invention described herein provides a volatile memory-based USB-style data-transfer device with automatic and user-initiated anti-tamper penalties. Applicants' data-transfer device is designed to use volatile memory storage techniques so that the memory can be physically cleared without the need to plug the device into a computer system. In this regard, the Applicants' data-transfer device employs active and passive triggers that, when triggered, will lead to a penalty of complete erasure of the data stored on the device.